Why you should experience Glen Iris Drive in Atlanta, Georgia.
Glen Iris Drive is a historic Old Fourth Ward corridor where industrial heritage, educational innovation, and urban revitalization converge along one of Atlanta's most transformative neighborhood streets.
Running through Old Fourth Ward between Poncey-Highland and Midtown, this distinctive corridor connects restored industrial buildings, Georgia Institute of Technology facilities, creative workplaces, neighborhood residences, parks, and cultural destinations that have helped redefine Atlanta's east side for generations. Historic brick architecture, adaptive reuse developments, landscaped streets, and contemporary research facilities create a streetscape where the city's manufacturing past and knowledge-based future exist side by side. Once serving factories and warehouses tied to Atlanta's industrial economy, Glen Iris Drive has evolved into a corridor that reflects the city's remarkable ability to preserve its heritage while embracing innovation. The result is a street defined by reinvention, creativity, and enduring urban significance.
What you should know about Glen Iris Drive.
Glen Iris Drive is best known for passing Ponce City Market, the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. regional distribution center, completed in 1926 as Sears' largest facility in the Southeast, encompassing more than 2.1 million square feet and serving as one of the company's most important catalog distribution hubs before its nationally acclaimed transformation into one of America's landmark adaptive reuse projects.
Designed by the architectural firm Nimmons, Carr & Wright, the immense complex revolutionized retail distribution across the Southeast by combining warehousing, offices, catalog fulfillment, and retail operations within a single integrated facility. For decades, millions of orders passed through the building as Sears expanded into one of the nation's dominant retailers, making the complex an economic engine for Atlanta and the surrounding region. Following years of vacancy, the structure underwent an extraordinary redevelopment that preserved its historic industrial character while introducing restaurants, retail, offices, residences, and public gathering spaces beneath the original brick façade. Today, Glen Iris Drive provides direct access to a landmark whose scale, history, and successful reinvention have become an international benchmark for adaptive reuse and urban revitalization.
How to fold Glen Iris Drive into your trip.
Glen Iris Drive is best experienced as an exploration of Old Fourth Ward's industrial heritage, creative energy, and contemporary urban life.
Begin at Ponce City Market, where one of America's most celebrated adaptive reuse projects immediately establishes the corridor's defining identity. Continue toward Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, whose vibrant public art, landscaped pathways, and lively gathering spaces reveal how former railroad infrastructure has reshaped Atlanta's urban landscape. From there, make your way to Historic Fourth Ward Park, where award-winning green infrastructure, expansive lawns, and inviting public spaces provide a broader perspective on the neighborhood's remarkable transformation. Along the route, you'll encounter restored warehouses, neighborhood cafés, public art, innovative workplaces, tree-lined streets, and thoughtfully designed civic spaces that demonstrate how Glen Iris Drive seamlessly connects Atlanta's industrial legacy with one of its most vibrant contemporary neighborhoods. The progression moves naturally from landmark adaptive reuse to transformative greenway to nationally recognized urban park, revealing why Glen Iris Drive remains one of Old Fourth Ward's defining corridors.
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